1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming apparatus with an image processing function composed of hardware.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that an image forming apparatus, such as an MFP (multifunction peripheral) with an image processing function composed of hardware, such as a copy function, can be used as an image processing accelerator using an application in a personal computer connected to a network. In such an image forming apparatus, since the image processing path is shared by a copy function and the execution of the accelerator function, they cannot be executed at the same time. Therefore, when the copy operation, the operation mode of high priority, was being performed, the accelerator function could not be carried out, which forced the end of the copy operation to be waited for. In addition, when a copy operation took place while the accelerator function was in operation, the accelerator function had to be stopped to carry out the copy operation of high priority.
Furthermore, when a PC gave a plurality of jobs requesting the accelerator function, the jobs were processed just in the order in which a request was made, since the contents of the image processing needed for each job was not taken into account. Therefore, it was necessary to update the parameter setting for the image processing on a job basis, which resulted in a decrease in the performance of the accelerator function.
Accordingly, there is a need for an image forming apparatus capable of alleviating restrictions on the accelerator function due to a copy operation and performing the copy operation and the accelerator function at the same time efficiently.